HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) - Condemned Texas prisoner Preston Hughes faces execution for the fatal stabbings of a teenage girl and her 3-year-old cousin in Houston 24 years ago.

The 46-year-old Hughes insists he's innocent of the slayings of 15-year-old Shandra Charles and her cousin, Marcell Taylor.

Police say Charles was gravely wounded following the attack in a wooded field and told an officer at the scene that "Preston" had tried to rape her. Police went to a nearby apartment complex where Hughes was the only Preston among the residents. He'd already been on probation for sexual assault of a child.

Hughes and his attorneys had numerous appeals in the courts to block the punishment Thursday evening in Huntsville.

A San Antonio man was executed Wednesday evening for the 2001 rape-slaying of a woman.